


Mistaking Speed for Getting What You Need

by Sadbhyl



Series: Smith & Harkness [7]
Category: Sarah Jane Adventures, Sarah Jane Smith (Big Finish Audio), Torchwood
Genre: F/M, Gen, Jossed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-11-20
Updated: 2006-11-20
Packaged: 2017-10-23 06:38:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 935
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/247299
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sadbhyl/pseuds/Sadbhyl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jack tries to pry information out of Sarah Jane, but gets a little something he might not have expected.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Mistaking Speed for Getting What You Need

**Author's Note:**

> This series was originally written waaaay back when, starting in May of 2006, shortly after School Reunion aired and a few months before the premiere of Torchwood, when the Sarah Jane Adventures were barely an idea. Which explains some of the poor characterization in the early chapters, especially Ianto. I struggled with the idea of revising to fit canon, but decided to leave it as an archive. Everything's pretty much Jossed, but have fun with it anyway.

  
Between the rain sheeting and the condensation building up on the inside of the glass, it was next to impossible to see out the windshield of the SUV into the night beyond. Jack leaned forward again to wipe the fog off the window, then turned to grin at his companion. “I don’t think I’ve ever fogged up a car without actually fooling around before.”

Sarah just cocked an eyebrow at him, in one easy gesture making him feel about twelve years old again. “Why am I here, Jack?”

He tightened his jaw. He was really tired of being off balance with this woman. “Would you rather be out in the rain with Owen and Gwen?” he snapped.

“Not really,” she responded mildly. “But then I wasn’t given much of a choice, was I?”

“Maybe I just wanted a chance to talk to you. In private.”

She crossed her denim-clad legs demurely and folded her hands in her lap. “From what I hear, you aren’t much of one for talk.”

He gave up any pretense of surveillance. “Things aren’t always what they seem. Like you, for instance.”

“What about me?”

“There’s something about you, something you aren’t telling me.” Twisting in his seat, he rested his arm along the back of her seat. “What is it?”

Her lips twisted up in that small, knowing smile he’d gotten so familiar with. The one that said she knew more than he did. “A girl has to have some secrets.”

“I don’t like secrets. Secrets get people killed.”

“And that bothers you, does it?”

“Yes, it bothers me!” He knew he had lost control of this conversation, but he went with it anyway. “These people count on me to look out for them. I’m not going to let them down.”

“Like someone let you down?”

That stopped him, the abandonment and loss open and raw again in that instant. He crushed the feelings back down. “It doesn’t matter why. What matters is I’m not going to put them at risk anymore. This has been fun while it lasted, but it’s time for some answers, Miss Smith.”

She was reading something in him, and it made him uncomfortable to realize he couldn’t tell what. Slouching a little lower in her seat, she slipped her hands into her pockets. “What do you want to know?”

Finally, a chance to dig. “What were you doing with UNIT back then? It’s not like they were a hotbed of women’s rights.”

“You might be surprised,” she answered with a shake of her head. “But no, I was part of their PR campaign. I was just out of university and had an assignment with the _Manchester Star_. They sent me to ferret out some information about the local military installation, and I did such a good job, their science advisor decided to keep me on.” She seemed lost in the memory, that subtle smile speaking of more than just secrets. “I traveled with him for a few years, broadening my horizons, so to speak, before I came back to…home and returned to journalism.” She seemed to grow a bit wistful towards the end before pulling herself together to look at him. “See? Nothing ominous or threatening.”

“So you traveled with him?” Jack had to ask. “This science advisor? Was it just travel, or…”

The aggravating little smirk was back. “A lady doesn’t kiss and tell.”

That was more of a challenge than Jack could resist. “But the lady does kiss.”

“Jack.” A flicker of regret crossed her features as she rested her hand on his chest in warning.

In the close confines of the truck, there wasn’t much room for evasion. Not that he would have forced her had she been more emphatic in her denial. This was more along the lines of discouragement, and Jack was never one to be easily discouraged. Even sitting more upright in her seat, Sarah was still a tiny little thing, forcing Jack to bend low to press his lips to hers. She remained stoic as he coaxed her, enjoying the texture of the faint creases of her mouth as he gently nipped at her lower lip, traced the outline of her mouth before pressing closer, curving his hand around the base of her skull to support her.

When finally she opened her mouth to him, it was with a small gasp that made him ache.

Her hands were on his arms now, neither drawing him closer nor pushing him away. It was tempting to thrust into the hollow created by her parted lips, but instead he kept to the surface, tracing her teeth lightly, teasing the tip of her tongue with his before retreating again. He was the one to end it, looking down into eyes gone faintly sultry.

“That kiss you can tell anyone about you want.” His own voice startled him. He hadn’t been this affected by just a kiss in a long time.

She licked her lips, catching her bottom lip between her teeth in an almost childlike gesture. By the dim light from the dashboard, he though he could see the faintest of blushes coloring her skin.

“I don’t think I will,” she said finally with no malice in her voice.

He sighed and sat back in his seat, the loss of intimacy its usual dull ache. “You do like your secrets, Sarah Jane.”

“I’m not the only one, Captain.” She settled back against the upholstery, pulling her leather coat closer around her. “But at least you got your way.”

“How’s that?”

She nodded forward. “The window’s steamed up properly now.”

He grinned.


End file.
